Clear achievement gaps by ethnic background and family income: first TDSB census
February 27, 2009
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Kristin Rushowy
EDUCATION REPORTER
Less than half of children in Toronto's public elementary schools speak English as a first language, says the first-ever census looking at kindergarten to Grade 6 students.
The survey, which went out to parents last spring and asked everything from family income to feelings about safety, also found there's no longer one dominant racial group with Toronto District School Board elementary schools: white students make up 29 per cent, South Asian (India/Pakistan/Sri Lanka) 27 per cent, East Asian (China, Japan, Korea) 15 per cent, and 10 per cent are black.
More than 95,000 parents of students in kindergarten to Grade 6 completed the voluntary, wide-ranging survey, which represents more than two-thirds.
The board has linked results to provincial test scores, and plans to use the information to target programming where it’s most needed.
This survey follows on the heels of one completed by middle and secondary school students in 2007 that asked teens everything from racial background to sexual orientation to how safe they feel in school, which the majority said they did.
The overwhelming majority of elementary students also say they enjoy school and feel safe there.
However, the elementary survey notes a “consistent gap” in standardized test results between students living with two parents and those in single-families, and among certain racial groups, but notes that "challenging" family circumstances may be the root cause.
The survey also found:
* 79% of students are born in Canada
* 66% both parents born in other countries
* 21% both parents born in Canada
* 13% one Canadian-born + one foreign-born parent
* 44% speak English at home
* 25% speak English + another language
* 31% speak another language at home
* 78% live with mother and father
* 20% are only children
* 48% two-child households
* 32% three or more children
* 81% of parents are satisfied with their child's education
* 89% say their children enjoy school "all the time" or "often"
* 90% of parents say children feel safe at school "all the time" or "often"
* 48% of parents say a breakfast program is needed at their school
* 55% said lunch program needed
* 87% of parents want their child to attend university
* 6% want their child to go to college
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